Sony sites compromised again

Sony is struggling to move beyond a high-profile and costly attack on its PlayStation Network that put at risk the personal details of more than 100 million customers.

Now the company has faced new security and has taken down a website that allowed users of PlayStation Network and Qriocity, an online entertainment service, to reset their passwords.

The password reset site and several other Sony sites were offline after security holes were discovered that could have let hackers access user accounts and make unauthorised charges.

Described as a “URL exploit”, the problem would have let anybody with a user’s email and birthday details access their full account. These data were among the pieces of information believed to have been obtained by the attack last month.

Sony said the new vulnerability was not the result of a new hack, contrary to some reports. The PlayStation Network itself was not brought down again.